ZET will be having a pub quiz to raise funds for Rafiki Girls’ Centre.

Date : Wednesday17 Feb 2016

Time : 8PM

Place:O’Neills Leeds

26 Great George St

Leeds,LS1 3DL

Join us for some fun and drinks as we raise funds for Rafiki.

Based in Harare, the Rafiki Girls’ Centre provide vocational training to some of Harare’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable young women.In addition to academic training,they provide emotional,psychological and social support-empowering disadvantaged women and promoting gender equality.

We are inviting 30 new monthly donors to give £10 per month (as a guide) to increase our support base. You can set up a regular monthly donation securely online via PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr) or by completing and signing a Standing Order form (available on the support page) and returning it the ZET office by email tocontact@zimbabweeducationaltrust.org.uk or by post to Zimbabwe Educational Trust, Ebor Court, Skinner Street, Westgate, Leeds, LS1 4ND.

Providing a regular monthly donation is the most effective way to support our work. Small amounts given regularly allow us to plan and budget our activities with greater certainty and employ a part-time Operations Manager. When you have set up your donation, please follow the link to ‘Return to Zimbabwe Educational Trust’. You will then be given the option to subscribe to our Donors Mailing List, and if you are a UK tax payer you will be able to opt into the Gift Aid scheme, which will increase the value of your donations by up to 25%!

Click the attached link to check out this great article featuring ZET in the “Charity” section of the Yorkshire Post! Many thanks to Angela Belassie from PR The Write Way for the excellent article. Yorkshire Post – September 25 2015

Based in Cheltenham with a sister organisation in Harare, ITSA have many years’ experience refurbishing IT equipment and shipping it for use in schools across Africa. Working in partnership with them, ZET is sending an initial shipment of 50 PCs, with plans to send more equipment and to help schools in Zimbabwe establish fully functional IT Suites and provide IT training for teachers.

A big thanks to Boston Spa College and Training 26 for the donation of computers for this shipment!

This story hit the headlines in Zimbabwe twice this year. In the interests of child protection, we have not used real names.

Thembi is a 17 year old orphan who was referred to Trinity Project by the local Child Protection Committee. Just over two years ago, Thembi was raped by her uncle and fell pregnant as a result. She is now mother to an 18 month old baby boy.

Thembi reported the rape to the police; her uncle was successfully prosecuted and is now in jail. However, as a result of this brave decision, Thembi received death threats from her extended family. Some of these family members illegally occupied the house which had belonged to Thembi’s late parents, making Thembi homeless for a time. Through mediation with the family, Trinity Project was able to find a family member to speak up on behalf of the girl. This enabled us to take the case to a Magistrate, who appointed Trinity Project as the executors of the deceased estate. As a result, it was then possible to evict the family members who were squatting in Thembi’s home. However, Thembi’s family left the house without paying utility bills, leaving her with crippling debts as well as mounting legal fees. To compound matters, Thembi recently discovered she has cervical cancer, possibly resulting from the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, so is also having to find money to pay medical bills.

Thembi was always at the top of her class at school, but the traumas she has suffered over the past 2 years have forced her to drop out of education. She is now determined to find the money to pay for her school fees so she can return to education and fulfil her ambition of becoming a solicitor.

With the guidance of Trinity Project’s expert staff, ZET has supported Thembi as she seeks to overcome the challenges she faces. This summer, over $1,000 was raised in a special appeal which paid all of Thembi’s court costs and a large percentage of her debts. On 6th November, a magistrate officially authorised the transfer of the house into Thembi’s name.

Thembi thanks you for your support:

First and foremost I would like to thank you for your efforts in supporting me in my legal cases and my financial crisis. Three quarters of my debts in electricity and water bills have been paid off through the donated US$1000. These debts were a burden to me, and I used to find it difficult to concentrate on my life.

Ever since Trinity Project started assisting me, my life has been shaping up. Now I am able to concentrate on my studies with no worries of debts.

I sincerely appreciate and I am grateful for all your help and support. May God be with you and bless you all.

In this short radio broadcast, David Hofisi of ZLHR and Dr Rutendo Bonde of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) help explain the provisions in Zimbabwe’s new constitution that guarantee the right to education and health and how ZLHR and ZADHR are working towards enforcing such rights.

Based in Harare, Rafiki provides vocational training to vulnerable young women. Since 2002 they have trained over 450 women, almost 80% of whom have gone on to find paid employment or set up their own business. A further 10% have used the training to access further education. We are very excited to have partnered with Rafiki, and will be supporting their work through a major fundraising campaign in the UK, which will commence in December.